The air conditioners blow at full blast, but the intensity still heats the room. Outlines are furiously shuffled and read at breakneck speed. Some people are chanting to themselves or closing their eyes trying to recall information. Other individuals are pacing around the room. The moments before a law school exam appear to be pure chaos. Students are trying to cram just a few more rules before the exam starts. Is this last second memorizing, or memorizing in general, critical for law school exams? I believe the answer is yes, and our students can approach memorizing the material better.
Most law professors emphasize analysis. They will reiterate the importance of analyzing the facts ad nauseam. Many even say all their points on the final will be analysis of facts. Unfortunately, the message students receive is much different than the intended message. Too many of my students believe only a basic understanding of the rules is what matters. They believe fact discussions, which don't tend to be fact applications, will score well on finals. In turn, they don't spend as much time memorizing the rules in the depth necessary to do a thorough fact application.
An in-depth knowledge of the rules is the foundation for quality legal analysis. The in-depth knowledge requires both knowing the rule and understanding how it operates. I know many people argue that understanding the rule is the most important because understanding is precondition to knowing what facts to apply. I generally agree with that statement. Students should definitely understand rules and how they operate. However, students sometimes misinterpret understanding rules as they just need to know the gist of what the rule is. That is a mistake. I believe a prerequisite to understanding the rules is knowing what they are. Analyzing a battery is difficult if a student just understands the gist of needing an intentional contact and the intent can be a little less than purpose. Students should memorize that a battery has 4 elements: intent; harmful or offensive contact; to the person of another; and causation. Knowing the elements helps students integrate specific rules for each element into a schema that translates better to fact applications. Some students are misunderstanding some of the messages from law school, so they may not be memorizing specific rules.
We can combat these misunderstandings with some tips on how to memorize and teach them how to apply facts to rules. A book I recently listened to titled Remember It! by Nelson Dellis provides great tips for creating images to remember large amounts of information. Nelson is a former memory champion and wrote about specific techniques he used that are practical for everyday activities. The biggest takeaway I pulled from the book was engaging all the senses through vivid imagery can dramatically increase memory. Instead of trying to memorize the 4 elements of battery, create an image that specifically included all the elements. In our mind, we could conjure an image of the Hulk full of rage with veins popping out of his head walking up to a small pedestrian with pale skin and glasses at the intersection of International St. and Harvard Blvd (2 streets easy for me with the first letters of the next 2 elements). Hulk yells to Pedestrian, "I want to break every one of your bones!" while making a breaking motion with his hands (intent element). Hulk's eyes are bulging out while he reaches back and swings at pedestrian with all his might. He hits the book pedestrian is holding hard enough to send pedestrian flying backwards (touching to the person). You hear bones breaking as pedestrian falls limp to the ground (harmful contact). Hulk then spits on pedestrian while he is down (offensive contact). Hulk then laughs, gives himself a high five, and struts down the street.
The last image is imperfect because I am not as good as Nelson at creating memorable images. However, you can see how using all the senses makes it more memorable. The image also includes all the elements for the cause of action. The difficulty arises when dealing with harder subjects or trying to remember more information. The book is great because it provides specific tips for large amounts of information and remembering sequences. He details how to use the memory palace (or journey method) for recalling order. Some of his tips just use the first letter of something or other shortcuts. He uses images of famous people or areas he already knows well. The idea though is to use images to retain information. I encourage listening to the book to understand exactly how he creates lasting memories.
I generally agree with people who say law school requires more than rote memorization. However, I do believe remembering information is critical to understanding, and understanding is critical to application. Hopefully we can pass along resources to our students to improve their retention.
(Steven Foster)
